Improvement in stop-valves for water-pipes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

y JOSEPH L. HEWES, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN STOP-VALVES FOR WATER-PIPES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 127,768, dated June 11,1872.

SrEcIFIcATIoN.

i management of water-works, especially, are

familiar with the difficulty experienced whenever it becomes necessaryto shut of a line of pipes for repairs, or for the purpose of makingconnections, by the failure of theV stops to close with any degree oftightness, rendering it necessary oftentimes to do the proposed workwith a stream of water running. This occurs usually, not through anydefective workmanship in thegstop, but because of obstructions whichprevent the gate from being closed. Through the carelessness of work.

men and other causes a line of pipes, in being laid, is liable tocollect a considerable quantity of sand, gravel, and other sedimentarydeposit, which the action of a current of water sweeps' along anddeposits in the depression, or that part of the chamber in which thevalve works, lying below the lower surface of the waterway. This isinevitable, and when once lodged there no amount of power applied to thevalve will force it to find its seat with any degree of accuracy. Thewhole stop is strained or broken in the'attempt to close the valve, andit is condemned as worthless.

The nature of my invention consists in so forming and arranging thelower end of the valve, the water-ways, and passage beneath and aroundthe valve, as to secure the passage of a concentrated current of Waterthrough the sediment collected, as before set forth.

To enable others skilled in the art to use my invention, I will proceedto describe its coustruction and operation. t

I construct the shell or case of the stop according to any of the formsin use among makers of such work, and the valve or gate may besubstantially of any of the forms here tofore adopted. The form ofneither of these yis essential. Neither is the mode of operating thevalve.

Figure 1 of the drawing represents a sectional end view, vand Fig. 2 alongitudinal section of my improved water-stop.

I construct the gate or valve B with one side or face somewhat longerthan the other, so that when the valve has been so far depressed thatthe longer face entirely covers itsy corresponding opening orwater-waythe other or opposite face will not quite cover its waterway, thusleaving a passage for the water under and by the shorter face. The sameobject may be accomplished by raising the bottom of the water-way O onone side of the valve slightly above that on the" other, and again byextending the center of the valve below the faces thereof.

I do not confine myself to the use of either of these means, and onlyparticularly describe that which seems best adapted to effect the Adesired object.

From the chamber in which the valve works, and immediately under thevalve, I construct a passage, A, descending and passing outside of theshell or case and entering the bottom of the water-way beyond the longerface of the valve, forming a communication from the water on one side ofthe valve to the recess or depression under the valve, in whichdepression, as before set forth, the lodgment of sediment occurs.

The operation of the stop is as follows: The valve being opened, thepipe lled with water, and the bottom of the chamber receiving thesediment carried along by the current, we Wish to shut 0E the water bylowering the valve, When the water-way adjacent to the long side of thevalve is covered that next to the short side still presents some openingthrough which lthe Water flows. It rushes through the contracted openingand through the only course for it-the passage A-and into the water-wayon the opposite side of the valve. Whichever direction the water -hasthe result is the same in either case, removing, by the force of thecurrent, anything which may have lodged be low the valve, leaving for ita clear and unobstructed course. The form or shape of the passage A isimmaterial, only requiring to be so t constructed and arranged as topass through sage extending from the chamber immediately belonT thevalve, passing outside of the shell or case of the stop, andcommunicatingwith the main Water-Way beyond the Valve, substantially inthe manner and for the purpose described.

3. The combination of a valve, B, and passage A with the shell or caseof the stop and its Water-Ways, the Whole arranged substantially in themanner and for the purpose described.

JOSEPH L. HEWES. Witnesses:

J oHN M. PHILLIPS, G. H. BAILEY.

